A section of traders in Eldoret town are up in arms over a decision by the county government of Uasin Gishu to shut down the main wholesale market.
The traders now say they have been left jobless following the move as the other markets they have been asked to move to cannot accommodate all of them.
“The place we are being told to move to has no space for all of us and we are wondering how they expect us to work from there,” lamented one of the traders.
“This has been the source of our income and for the county to wake up one day and tell us that they are shutting the market for some flimsy reasons is unacceptable,” added Catherine Nanyama, another trader.
The governor Jackson Mandago-led administration last week ordered for closure of the market in what the county’s Trade Chief Officer Simon Cheplel said was occasioned by the fact that the market does not meet the required health standards.
“The government has always been talking about creating jobs but with the closure of this market it means they are doing the opposite,” said another trader.
The market has been accommodating over 2,000 traders who will now have no other option but to move to other markets designated by the county government as the closed market undergoes renovation aimed at ensuring it meets the set health standards.
This comes even as the hawkers in the town have been clashing with county enforcement officers over their eviction from the Eldoret town CBD.